Modern How To Train Your Dragon
by xRockattitude
Summary: Now, in the 21st century, life on Berk is very different. Dragons have become extinct, and Vikings aren't living in the cold anymore. But when the fourteen year old Hiccup finds a pitch black egg, and hatches it, a new friendship is born. Now he only has to find a way to reveal the dragons are still there, without freaking out the other villagers...
1. Chapter 1

How to train your dragon

_Episode 1_

_Chapter 1_

The legend said that once there was a friendship formed between a dragon and a teenage human boy. Who they were, and when they lived, that remained a mystery, and most people stopped believing in them over the ages.

Still, in Berk, a village that was situated on an island, separated from other cities, the legends continued to be told; If not by parents or grandparents, by teachers. Still, the amount of people that stopped believing in dragons grew every day, until now in modern society, where one might tell the tale as a bedtime story.

However, in Berk public school, the children were still educated in local history, which often brought up the dragon-topic. The teacher for that class was Gobber, a bold, medium-sized, quite fat man with an enormous chin and a blonde mustache that was too long to be taken seriously. He also had an attitude, and always wanted to be right in everything.

Gobber believed in dragons with his life; once when he was young, he was attacked by an unknown creature in the forest, which took away his right hand and left foot. Since then, he got obsessed with the beasts, insisting that what he saw – or thought he saw – was true.

The class that was currently in Gobbers lesson counted only six members; Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Astrid and Hiccup. Almost all of them had a nickname that was used more than their real name. The twins got their nickname for their first word ever spoken; Rough (Ruth) and Tough (Terrence). And they were both also kind of nuts. Then there was Snotlout (Simon), who used to have a problem with his nose which made him sneeze very loud all the time. Fishlegs (Jasper) accidentally tripped over a fish and broke both of his legs when he was only six years old. Then there was Hiccup, who was born as Harold. He deserved his nickname for being _the_ hiccup of the whole village. Every time he stepped outside, disaster fell. Even though he meant no harm, things always ended up for the worse. To keep it short: everything that could turn out bad with him, would turn out bad. But even he himself got used to call himself Hiccup that he sometimes forgot to look up when someone asked for Harold.

That left Astrid, the only person in the class who was called by her real name. She was a slim, tall blond girl, and ignorant of the big crush Hiccup had on her. She was a little bit taller than Hiccup, but he hardly noticed since the only time they really stood next to each other, was during an assignment for Gobber. They had a little conversation which lasted two minutes, and was concluded with a formal e-mail written by Astrid, which he had read a little too late. After that the only contact they had was an accidental eye-meeting once in a while.

Gobber was once more telling about the Vikings of the past in his usual Scottish accent. His hands were making big gestures, and his eyes seemed to get bigger by the minute. Talking about over-excited…

'… for the writer of all these documents, that HHH the Third we keep on finding, was not an extra-large boy with beefy arms with extra guts and glory on the side, not at all!' He gave a big wave. 'He was actually more like a talking fishbone, like our good friend Hiccup here!'

All the students turned to Hiccup. Ruff and Tuff accidentally bumped their head against each other and started a little fight. Snotlout started to smirk.

'Thanks,' Hiccup said, while shaking his head. 'Thanks for summing that up…' He forced his eyes back to the ground, and everybody went back to (kind of) paying attention. Actually, Fishlegs next to Hiccup was playing a game on his console. His gigantic hands seemed too large for the little device. His blond hair was hiding his eyes, so it could seem like he was paying attention.

Astrid took notes as usual. Snotlout, an annoying bully with a toad-like face and fattish brown hair, was throwing papers at Hiccups face. Ruff and Tuff were probably falling asleep, which wasn't new.

Right after the bell rang, Hiccup packed his bag. Even though he was the first ready, he was the last to exit the room since Snotlout pushed him aside quite hard. Hiccup felt a pain in his chest when Astrid just passed by without checking if he was alright.

When Hiccup went down the hall, he saw a few of the new posters of their school-mascot. They called themselves Vikings, and had a black dragon to cheer them on. Of course they didn't have a lot of competition here, since the only way to get to Berk was by boat. Two weeks a year the kids who participated in the schools sport-team would take the boat to the main land, where they would try and win whatever game they were playing. Since Hiccup wasn't a very athletic guy, he didn't even know what his school did each year.

When he got outside, he wasn't surprised to see the school bus riding away without him. And if he did get in the bus, Snotlout always teased him, causing everybody inside – even the rider – to laugh. Though, it was a half an hour walk to get home, and Hiccup didn't feel like sitting there alone. His father Stoick – a large muscular man with a big reddish-brown beard who was also the chief of Berk – wouldn't be home for another three hours, and to spend those moments trying to understand his mothers' cooking tips seemed like a nightmare. That was why Hiccup grabbed his bag, and marched into the forest. The sky was grey but still dry, so Hiccup had no problem sitting on the ground and opening a few more dragon books he borrowed from Gobber.

'Dragon classification,' Hiccup read again. He knew this book was written before the so called peace had begun, so he wasn't surprised to see the _kill on sight_-phrase that kept returning. Strike class, fear class, mystery class… Hiccup had read it all before, but he hoped every time again he would find out something he hadn't seen before. As was expected, the dragon he wanted to know everything about wasn't described in the book; The _Night Fury_. Size unknown, speed unknown, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Hiccup only knew he shouldn't come close to this dragon if he would ever find one.

How he wished he could.

Hiccup put the book aside to grab another one, but then he accidentally ripped out a page. It was his luck that it was only a blank one, but still his heart was beating in a tempo that was too fast to be considered healthy.

Hiccup had completely forgotten about the paper, until it started to rain. He grabbed all the books back into his bag, and only then he noticed something; the paper wasn't blank. The drops that had fell on it, made a small written map visible.

'Two papers glued on each other?' Hiccup asked himself when he took it. It was indeed what he thought. Keeping it wet helped to pull the papers apart, and then he saw a map indeed.

'_To my heir I give the map to all my noted documents on dragons,' _Hiccup read. He frowned, looked around to see if they weren't pulling a prank on him, and then read it again. It probably was from that HHH the Third, whoever that was. The man was so sure of it that his heir would find it. Well too bad for him this clumsy fourteen year old found it instead.

It didn't take long for Hiccup to be convinced. He started to follow every direction, almost tripped over a few branches because he wasn't looking where he went, but eventually arrived at his destination.

It was the cove where Hiccup used to play hide and seek with Fishlegs and Cam when he was little. Yes, before Fishlegs turned al nerd and stuff he was actually Hiccups best friend. Cam was a girl of the same age as them, but not from the island. Her mother was the chief of the Bog Burglars, another next to the isle of Berk. Cam's name was officially Camillla, but everybody liked to call her Camicazi, since she dared to do almost everything.

Why would the map lead him here? Hiccup climbed down, fell in the end on his back of course, but was then with two feet safely on the earth. He hurt his back because of the books, but it was bearable.

After one more look on the map, Hiccup walked behind a pile of rocks, and found a cave he remembered very well. His father always said it was built by their ancestors. It also helped him to keep dry when it rained again, just like now. Hiccup found his shelter, and removed the bag to rug his back. He grunted painfully, biting his lower lip.

Then he sat down next to a pile of rocks that were carefully put in a circle. Camicazi often tried to throw them in the pond, but Hiccup kept on reminding her that it had to mean something special. Luckily Fishlegs always supported him.

Now he looked at the stones again. There were seven of them. Six in variants of grey colors, but the biggest one was pitch black. He always thought that was odd, but never questioned it.

On the paper, right on the place where the cave was, he saw a drawing that looked like a circle made of seven dots. He didn't need any help to figure out he was sitting right next to it.

It must be underground, Hiccup thought. He used his fingers to get through the earth, and started to dig a hole.

He was probably filthy of the mud in the end, but he finally got what he was looking for; a box. Hiccup had to put his weight into it to get it out, and fell on his butt when it got loose.

When he opened the box, the first thing he hoped was to find some things about the Night Fury. The chest wasn't locked, which was good. Hiccup saw a letter on top of almost ten books, but put it aside to read it afterwards. First he needed to find some Night Fury's.

The first five books were more like journals. Some additional drawings were made to characterize some people probably described. Hiccup knew what he was going to read before going to sleep. Then there was a guide to deadly dragons; those who were not trainable Hiccup guessed. This one was written in two more books. That left three.

The next book had names, which made no sense at all. _Toothless_? _Stormfly_? Maybe this one was a joke.

The last two books were indeed more detailed dragon books. The same classes were used as in the other book, only this time it wasn't instructed to kill them, but how to train them. Hiccup recognized the Gronckle, the Zippleback, Boneknapper… The very last chapter of the last book had ten pages on Night Fury's. But Hiccup didn't look at the words. He looked at the drawing instead.

Never was it even possible to have seen a more beautiful creature in this world. The Night Fury was raven black, had enormous big eyes, and wings that looked like that of a bat. The teeth were small but obviously sharp.

Hiccup saw that the raining was stopping. If he wanted to go home dry, he had to pack things up immediately, before another cloud would come. He pushed the books in his bag, barely succeeded at closing it, and then he noticed the letter he had forgotten in the chest. Something told him he had to read it right now, so he took the sheet.

_Dear heir,_

_For me it seems so long ago Vikings and dragons were fighting. I was only fourteen years old at that moment, barely a Viking myself. In the end I succeeded to end the war, and started the friendship between men and dragons. But now I am an old man, and most of the dragons have disappeared from Berk or anywhere near. My dragon managed to lead me to a last remaining Night Fury-egg on this island, right before he died. I know now my time has come too. To you, my heir, I have left the egg. This egg can hibernate for over a thousand years, and will only start hatching when put in boiling water. Be aware, though, that if the dragon accepts you, it will be a friendship for life._

_Good luck_

_Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III_

Hiccup could not believe anything in this letter. First, that HHH the third's actual name was Hiccup? Was that his real name? And what was that about an egg? Hiccup didn't see anything looking like that in the chest.

He accidentally dropped his hand on the black stone, and felt for the first time how warm it actually was.

And that was how he found the egg.

With the black egg in his hands, and a terrible weight on his back, Hiccup walked out of the woods. Now he was back at the entrance of his school, and he still had half an hour of walking ahead of him. A loud sigh left his mouth, as he started to head home. The ground was wet, and Hiccups shoes were covered with mud almost immediately. His hair now hung in front of his eyes. He was chilled to the bone, but would only stop when he got to his house.

Fortunately, his father's car pulled over when Hiccup was walking next to the road. He saw the window going down, which revealed his father's face.

'Son, what are you _doing_ out here?' he asked. Hiccups parents avoided the whole Hiccup/Harold thing, and just called him son or boy. It never bothered Hiccup.

'I missed the bus,' Hiccup said. Stoick only shook his head.

'The bus was two hours ago, how is it that you are still here? Did you hurt your foot again?' That last question had been asked so many times, that it wasn't even surprising anymore.

'No, dad. It's when I see the forest; I just need to…' Hiccup thought about how to explain this '…get in there, you know. It's who I am dad.' Stoick opened the passengers door, and Hiccup took place next to his father.

'Uh, son, you are many things, but a careful hiker is not one of them. Just make sure you don't break your foot again…'

Then he started the car, and they rode off. The trip home only had questions as "how was school?" or "Did Gobber teach anything special?". Hiccup only shrugged, answered yes or no when the time was right, and then came the question why he was carrying a stone.

'It's for my rock-collection, dad!' Hiccup quickly said. He only hoped Stoick didn't know anything about his hobbies.

It took Stoick exactly ten seconds to figure out something wasn't quite right in his explanation.

'I thought you stopped collecting rocks when you became twelve?' Of course, Hiccup forgot that he often took rocks home, to let them linger in his room for about a week, and then be thrown out by his mother when she cleaned his room.

'Oh, no! I just… wasn't very pleased with the rocks I found lately…' was his best excuse. Then the car stopped, and he jumped out of it.

'Don't forget your homework, son!' Stoick could shout out before Hiccup disappeared in the hallway. He almost ran into his mother, who was carrying a sack of potatoes.

'No running in the house!' she ordered him, and Hiccup had to slow down. Was he going to do it? Was he going to put the egg in boiling water?

Of course he was.

Hiccup speed walked to the kitchen, and started the boiler. Then he went to the living room, finding his grandfather there watching TV. He was glad the old man wasn't asleep. The man's name was Wrinkley, and Hiccup had no idea how old he was; only that he was quite fit for his age.

'Grandpa!' Hiccup shouted. The old man looked up, and smiled when he saw his grandson.

'Ah Harold, good you're here. I'm bored to death!' he said. The man stood up, and patted Hiccup on his head.

'Grandpa, I'm going to do something big! And I need your help with it!' Hiccup almost whispered, since he heard his mother entering the kitchen. Old Wrinkley nodded, and pointed at the egg.

'What's this?' he asked. Hiccup held the black thing up in the light.

'It's a dragon-egg. A Night Fury-egg, to be precise!'

Wrinkley frowned, and then nodded. 'I'll take your stuff up to your room, you just grab everything you need,' he said, taking Hiccups bag and the egg. Then he disappeared to the stairs, and Hiccup walked to the kitchen to take a cauldron. He poured the boiling water in it, without his mother even noticing. It was almost as if Hiccup was never there.

Carrying the cauldron upstairs was hard, and Hiccup accidentally burned his fingers twice. When he got to his room, he saw that Wrinkley had already cleared his desk, so Hiccup dropped his cargo on it. Then he took a few steps back to look if nothing valuable was too close.

'Here, I found the guidelines, can you read it?' Wrinkley asked, as he handed Hiccup the dragon-book, already at the last ten pages. Hiccup's eyes narrowed a little bit, as he had to adjust to the rune-writing again.

'Step one: put the egg in water,' he read out loud. Wrinkley nodded, and gently dropped the egg in the cauldron.

'Step two: wait ten minutes,' Hiccup then read. 'Step three: feed him, show him/her you are trustable, and feed him a fish. If he/she wants to share it, he/she trusts you.'

Hiccup dropped the book, since there were no more steps. There were nine minutes remaining, but it seemed like an hour. Wrinkley grabbed the book again, and tried to translate what was written. It had been ages for him, but the alphabet was still in his knowledge.

Three more minutes had passed, and Hiccup took a seat next to the cauldron. He wanted to be the first human the dragon would ever see. Two more minutes passed.

Hiccup felt guilty that he didn't tell anything to Fishlegs about his plans. Normally they did everything together, but when they turned thirteen, Hiccups clumsiness doubled, and Fishlegs seemed only interested in his console-games. During lunch they still sat at the same table, but the only thing they talked about was which level Fishlegs was at the moment.

The last minute had begun. Hiccups clothes were still wet. Wrinkley seemed to have succeeded in translating the last paragraph.

'Eh, Harold,' he said. But Hiccup didn't listen. He saw movement in the egg. A little crack appeared. Was it going to be a female or a male? What color would it have? And his eyes? How big would they be?

'Harold?' the man tried again. Now Hiccup had stood up, and he was watching over the edge of the cauldron. He never had been so excited in his life!

'Harold!' Wrinkley then shouted. Hiccup turned his head to him. Only ten more seconds to go.

'What?' he asked. Wrinkley held the book up.

'The egg is going to explode,' he said in panic. Hiccups eyes became big, and he turned his head. It was too late to move it.

He heard it happen, and jumped under his bed. Wrinkley on the other hand left the room, with the door still open. There were no flames, but the boiling water was now splashing in the air, destined to fall everywhere in the room. Hiccup was glad his computer was safely under his bed.

When all was over, Hiccup crawled out of under his bed. A little boll was sitting on his sheets. It was black. Hiccups mouth fell open.

His room was disastrous. How was he going to explain this to his parents?

A little yawn came from the little Night Fury, and it stretched his limbs, then to watch Hiccup with his gigantic eyes.

'Well hello there,' Hiccup whispered to the dragon. It turned his head a little bit, and his ears went up in the air. It took a few steps forward, and then sat down in front of Hiccup. That moment Wrinkley entered the room again, holding a fish in his hand.

'I got you meal,' he said, while handing it over. The dragon's eyes followed everything without blinking. Then he licked his mouth.

'This fish is too big for him!' Hiccup said. But then, the dragon grabbed the fish out of his fingers, and swallowed it whole. The two people in the room couldn't move anymore. This tiny creature had just eaten a whole thing.

But then, the dragon made some strange sounds, as if it needed to throw up. He held his head down, and eventually dropped a little piece into Hiccups hand. Then it sat down again, heavily breathing, waiting for Hiccup to act.

'What does it want?' Hiccup asked. Wrinkley grabbed the book from the ground, and started reading out loud.

'Step three says that he would share if he likes you,' the man said. Hiccup watched the piece of fish, and felt disgust coming up. He never liked fish.

'I think you need to eat it,' came after that. Hiccup grunted, dropped his hands for a while, and then took the flesh between his fingers.

'You owe me big time, dragon!' Hiccup said, before dropping it into his mouth. Without chewing he swallowed it whole, and felt as if he had to throw up.

Now the dragon was smiling, and that was when Hiccup saw that it had no teeth. He was so amused by the sight that it didn't come up to him that baby dragons probably only had gums.

'I'll call you Toothless, I think,' Hiccup said, while picking the dragon up. Toothless crawled on Hiccups shoulder, and formed another little ball. This was way too awesome to be true; he had his very own dragon, a Night Fury to make it even better. The other villagers wouldn't believe it, even when they saw him.

'You'd better keep him hidden for a while. The people here are not ready for them,' Wrinkley said, as if he knew exactly what Hiccup was thinking. Of course he was right.

Hiccup and Wrinkley were busy for almost three hours to dry Hiccups stuff. Toothless was just sleeping on his pillow, lightly snoring. The hairdryer had never been on so long, and after a while Hiccups mother entered the room.

'What are you two doing here?' she asked. Hiccup shrugged, and Wrinkley smiled.

'Just a little accident,' he said, while pointing at a glass Hiccup forgot to bring down last night. His mother stared at them for a while, but then shrugged and closed the door behind her. She didn't even notice Toothless lying on the pillow.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

'If he keeps growing like this, he won't be able to stay in your room at the end of the month,' Wrinkley said to Hiccup, who was holding the little dragon in his arms. Toothless had grown remarkably fast, being almost twice his size in one week. The idea of him being out of his sight was giving Hiccup an uncomfortable feeling.

He took Toothless in both his hands, and held him in front of his face, looking in his eyes. 'Stop growing, buddy!' he said, though he knew the exact size Toothless would grow into. It was always clear to him that he had to hide Toothless from the village, but outside of the house. Or he had to reveal his secret, and risking the whole village chasing Toothless for being a thread. Hiccup shivered, especially when he noticed Toothless was keeping him in a hypnotic gaze with his big yellow eyes. Maybe two minutes they stood there, staring at each other, but then Toothless opened his mouth, and licked Hiccups face with no shame. By surprise, Hiccup dropped the dragon, and looked in terror while he fell. But then he spread his wings, and flew back on to Hiccups shoulder. Once more he forgot that Toothless was able to fly.

'He sure does like you,' Wrinkley said, laughing his typical grandpa-smirk. Hiccup dried his face with his sleeves.

It was now Sunday evening, in the end of September. Tomorrow, Toothless would be one week old. He still had no teeth, but he was an excellent flyer. Right after school, Hiccup took the dragon out for a walk in the cove, where Toothless enjoyed spreading his wings. They usually stayed there for two to three hours. Toothless did his dragon-things, Hiccup made his homework. Wrinkley always found an excuse for Hiccups absence when Stoick was asking questions again.

When Hiccup checked his watch, he realized he'd better be off to bed if he wanted to be able to wake up next morning. School… he really didn't feel like going, but it wasn't optional. The idea of leaving Toothless alone was disturbing for Hiccup. His thoughts weren't with the lessons, and he couldn't answer the times Gobber asked him a question.

The moment he woke up, he heard Toothless still snoring on the pillow next to his. He wondered if the dragon was dreaming, and if he was; what he was dreaming about.

But he didn't have time to think about that. He had to get up, and make himself ready for school. Against his will, he pushed away his sheets, and he threw his legs out of bed. Every time again he got shocked of the big scars he had on his left feet. Almost every year he hurt himself. The foot got broken five times, underwent surgery along with it. The scars weren't supposed to be so large, but apparently, his didn't fade away.

'Son, are you awake?' his mother asked from downstairs. Toothless' little head went up, his ears pointing up.

'Yes, mum!' he yelled back. He put on some jeans, a green t-shirt, and his favorite brown hoodie, and patted Toothless on the head before running downstairs, still trying to put his socks on.

His mother was already eating her breakfast, looking rather tired from waking up so early. Her brown hair was braided sloppy, and she was still in her pajamas.

'So, are you ready for your test on dragons today?' she asked him. Hiccups eyes became large, and his face red. She obviously saw it, because she made a suspicious face. 'Let me guess, you forgot about the test?'

Hiccup shook his head, but he knew it was no use. His mother knew him too well.

So while Hiccup got on the school bus, sitting next to Fishlegs, he opened his book, and started reading the chapter he was supposed to study this weekend. How could he forget this? And how did his mother know about it? Probably from his dad, who happened to be a good friend of Gobber…

But he couldn't concentrate on his book. To begin with, everything in it was wrong. Not all dragons could breathe under water, and the spikes on the Deadly Nadder were poisonous, unlike said in the notes. It annoyed Hiccup to study the wrong things.

But what also kept him out of his concentration was Snotlout, in the seat behind him. He was trying to flirt with Astrid. Now Snotlout was the typical football-star/bully, the popular guy, worshiped by everybody. He had brown hair, a big nose, and a mean face. Astrid on the other hand was the prettiest girl in the whole village, and everybody knew it, maybe even she as well. She was on top of the class, had the best points because she was so smart, and she had a black belt in martial arts. There was no girl in here that didn't want to be her friend, or even _be_ her.

'So, anyway, I'm moving to my parents' basement. You should come by sometimes to work out; you look like you work out.' True, Snotlout wasn't the best in hitting on girls. His pick-up lines were terrible, and he barely had time to explain his first statement. _You should come by to work out._ Seriously, that wasn't a good thing to say to a girl. Astrid stood up, and left to take a seat in the front. Completely confused, Snotlout follows her with his eyes. Then, Tuffnut throws a ball against his head, and Ruffnut starts smirking.

'Are you crying?' she asked. Snotlout didn't answer, and bit his lower lip, pressing his hand against the place that got hurt.

'I read this book, like, seven times!' Fishlegs said to Hiccup all of the sudden. 'There's this water-dragon that shoots boiling water at your face!' With his hands, he gestured that the beast probably was gigantic. Hiccup nodded.

'The Scauldron,' Hiccup said. Fishlegs looked surprised that he even knew that. Hiccup wanted to say a lot more about these dragons, but he kept his mouth shut, since all he knew was written in the books he found in the cove. But maybe he should finally share this with his friend?

'What's wrong, Hiccup?' Fishlegs asked. Hiccup shook his head, and smiled vaguely.

'Nothing, didn't sleep well,' he said, coming to the decision not to involve Fishlegs. He scratched his hair, and looked the other way. Fishlegs frowned a little bit, staring at the boy next to him.

'Oh, come to think of it, my mother told me you need glasses?' Fishlegs asked. Hiccups eyes widened, surprised by Fishlegs sudden interest in his well-being.

It was true that the last time Hiccup went to an eye-specialist she diagnosed Hiccup with bad eyesight. It wasn't crucial or urgent, so they kind of postponed buying a pair of glasses. The reason Mrs. Ingerman knew was that she was actually the doctor they went to.

'I could get contacts,' Hiccup murmured, but then Fishlegs started to laugh.

'You contacts? You would poke your eye out!' he laughed. Hiccup felt his face turn red, but had to admit his friend was right. Most of the bruises and cuts Hiccup had on his body were caused by himself. The others were a result of Snotlouts bullying…

The ride to school wasn't long enough, and Hiccup didn't succeed in studying all the stuff he had to know. Once he sat at his desk, Gobber walked in, already pissed off by a bird that dropped poo on his car window.

'Alright lads, I didn't have time to make test sheets, so this is going to be an oral exam.'

Sighs and grunts came of everyone's mouth. As if it wasn't bad enough Hiccup had to fail the test, he now also would make a fool out of himself in front of the whole class…

'So, let's see… The first in the alphabet…' Gobber spoke to himself while looking at the sheet of paper, though everybody knew that Hiccup was the one that came first, with the family name "Haddock". After him came Astrid Hofferson, Fishlegs Ingerman, Snotlout Jorgenson, Ruffnut and then Tuffnut Thorson.

'Hiccup, stand up,' Gobber said after reading the paper way too long. With a gigantic sigh, Hiccup got up. Snotlout, who was sitting before him, smirked again, obviously up to something.

'Tell me boy, who wrote the book of dragon,' Gobber asked. Hiccup frowned, surprised by the question. Still, he almost shouted out the real name of the author.

'HHH the third,' he then said, a few milliseconds later than would have been normal.

'What is known of the author?'

'Nothing,' he answered.

'Name a dragon with two heads.'

'Hideous Zippleback.'

'Which dragon makes a painful sound while startled?'

'Thunderdrum...'

'What dragon is good at hiding itself?'

'Night Fury.' And it was there he talked past his mouth. As everybody turned their heads in his direction, Hiccups face got a gigantic red blush on the cheeks. Especially now Astrid was looking.

'Night Fury? We don't know anything about this dragon, why would you say that?' she asked. It was a miracle! Astrid spoke directly to him without being forced into it.

'Astrid, quiet!' Gobber shouted. Then he faced Hiccup again. 'Explain?'

'Errr,' Hiccup didn't know where to continue. He had to improvise, clear this error. 'You know, the Night Fury has successfully kept hidden for all these years. What they knew of every single dragon they knew of has been written in that book. Even the Changewing has notes, and that is a dragon with the ability to camouflage itself! Then how does it come that the Night Fury has an unknown size or speed?'

Gobber rubbed his chin, and watched through the window. Then he took the book Hiccup had to study, and went through the pages. He made a sad face.

'Though I love your idea Hiccup, I cannot count this as a correct answer. Better luck next time,' he said. He gestured him to sit down, and automatically Astrid got on her feet, ready to answer the questions.

During the rest of the class, Snotlout had thrown papers at Hiccup, always with the same sort of humiliating messages. Hiccup had learned to ignore them over the time. Snotlout was his cousin, sadly enough. His mother was Hiccups aunt, and she was, unlike him, a lovely lady.

Astrid, of course, answered everything correct (if you count the lies the book tells you of course), and Tuffnut has proven once more he forgot how to count when Gobber asked him how many shots a Zippleback had, and Snotlout showed him six fingers underneath the table.

The last twenty minutes of that class were spent on Viking-traditions and rituals through the ages. The frequent ones like Snoggletog were still celebrated, and the people who lived in the Archipelago still had faith in the same gods.

Despite it being a modern society, the people of Berk still dared to call themselves Vikings, though they didn' really have the possibility of going into war with another tribe. They had rivalry with the Meathead-tribe, where their chief Mogadon often sent his villagers to see if Stoick was investing in a new army. But next to the Meatheads, there was the Murderous tribe, with a chief who never revealed his name since he never spoke. He was mad, and was often referred as "Madguts". It was said that if you would ever cross Madguts, you wouldn't make it to the next day. Stoick always told his son that it was better to avoid the Murderous', for they were not to be trusted.

But Stoick, the chief of Berk, had kept peace with the other tribes, such as the Berserkers (was easy with their good-hearted chief Oswald "the Agreeable" ), the Bog-Burglars ("Big-Boobied" Bertha fancied Stoick a little bit, at least, Camicazi once told that to Hiccup). They had a neutral pact with the Uglithugs, agreeing that if one would not stand in the way of another, no blood shall be spilled. Also, Ug, the chief of the Uglithugs, found Stoick a real humorous man, and couldn't stand the idea of killing such a great guy without a good reason.

It could go on like that, Hiccup, being the heir of Stoick, learned all about this while growing up. He often spent the evenings with his father staring at a map. He knew what tribes he shouldn't go to – the Hysterics were one of them (crazy people, those hysterics…)

Of course, with Hiccup being the skinny, clumsy teenage kid, it was hard to take him seriously as the heir of Berk. Even he agreed maybe Snotlout would make a better chief, though he knew he would leave Berk as soon as that happened.

After Gobber's class, the teens had P.E., so they took their sport bags, and went down the hall to the locker rooms. Hiccup, however still recovering from his latest broken foot, had a note that said he could stay on the sidelines.

'Ha, the Useless is afraid to break one of his nails!' Snotlout shouted, having all the teens, except for Astrid and Fishlegs (who were minding their own business), laughing. To make it worse, this class was merged with another one, so the witnesses of Snotlout's bullying had grown. Hiccup saw Dogsbreath – a large, muscular boy with black hair and a growing mustache – standing next to Snotlout, holding the basketball in his hands and smirking. A little further was Clueless, a boy who couldn't even remember his own house, also enjoying the show Snotlout was bringing to them. Hiccup had learned from experience that it was better not to react to it. He just sat further away, making sketches of Toothless in his notes, completely ignoring the people around him. He was completely lost in his thoughts, that he almost fell over when Snotlout grabbed the book out of his hands.

'What is this? Trying to modernize our school-mascot by making it into a baby?!' Snotlout showed the drawing to Dogsbreath, who made an annoying, unhealthy noise that was supposed to be laughter. Tuffnut walked up to them, and just when Hiccup wanted to take his book back, the boy with the dreadlocks stole it out of Dogsbreath' gigantic hands.

'Looks like a little kitty. You're one of those kitty-people now, aren't you?' he asked, throwing the book back at Hiccup, who had trouble balancing his bodyweight. As soon as the book touched his chest, he fell again. His face turned red of shame, and he hoped someone would come and safe him.

'He can't be much worse than Fishlegs, in the end,' Clueless then suddenly said. Hiccup saw his brown hair appearing behind Tuffnut, and the boy then revealed his freckled round face. The boys turned their head to Fishlegs, who had trouble catching the balls Ruffnut threw at him (she actually teased him, he thought she was practicing. Of course, to spare Fishlegs' feeling, Hiccup would not mention this to him ever). Fishlegs tried putting his glasses back every time they slipped away, and then he was fighting his asthma.

'When _I'm _gonna be chief, I will get rid of all of the losers living here. Your father is just too weak to do it,' Snotlout said, pointing his thumb to his chest, and putting up a proud face. That was too much for Hiccup. He stood up, and put all his weight into pushing Snotlout away. Of course, as Gobber mentioned last week, Hiccup was only a talking fishbone, and Snotlout was a star football-player, so it wasn't a surprise the proud boy wouldn't budge. Everybody started to laugh.

'Pathetic,' Snotlout said. He looked at Dogsbreath, who pushed Hiccup so hard he would still have bruises the next week. Right at that time, rescue came.

'Seriously guys, we're not going to wait any longer, get on that field and play!' Astrid said annoyed. Her long blonde hair was braided back, and her beautiful blue eyes looked mad at the bullies. Hiccup felt a rush going through his heart, knowing that she unknowingly just saved him from some ass-kicking.

Just when Hiccup wanted to thank her, she ran off without even giving him a look. Once again, his heart broke when he realized she probably didn't even see him sitting there. Hiccup closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reached for his notebook again.

The rest of the class was almost too hard to watch as the teenage boys were making it hard for Fishlegs to keep up. He saw the large boy breathing like every breath was his last, and his face got all red. He was sweating so hard Hiccup wouldn't even want to stand too close to him until after he would wash himself. After P.E. and a good enjoyable shower for Fishlegs, the two made their way to lunch, where, like every Monday, spaghetti was served. Hiccup and Fishlegs stood in line behind Ruffnut and a girl from another class. They heard them talking about typical girl-stuff, and Hiccup couldn't help but roll with his eyes to his friend, whose face was still red.

'Don't worry Fishlegs; my note to the teacher only lasts until next week. Then they can bully me again,' he said to cheer the boy up. Fishlegs only frowned, and shook his head.

'That's not really what I want,' he said, watching how a big plate of spaghetti got shoved in front of his face. His eyes got big, and he licked his lips. 'You would think they'd leave you alone for being the son of the chief, wouldn't you?' he asked. Hiccup only shrugged, and took his plate as well. Then they walked to a table. Hiccup only realized then it was the first time they really talked to each other again. No gaming consoles, no comics, just them catching up and eating.

'I mean, they should be afraid of what you can do when you'll be the chief!' Fishlegs got all excited, and his eyes narrowed when Snotlout and the gang passed, and pushed Hiccups face. Right on time Fishlegs pulled away the plate, or the boy's face would have had sauce all over it.

Hiccup recovered with cracking his neck, and sighing.

'You don't really believe I can be a chief, do you? Have you even seen me? I'm the joke of the whole cafeteria!' As he said that, he pointed at all the people who were looking at him and laughing. Mostly those were the children of his year or one year higher, the others didn't really know him and preferred to avoid him.

Fishlegs shrugged when Hiccup waited for an answer. He had almost finished his plate, and was looking hopefully at Hiccups, which was untouched.

'It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that matters,' Fishlegs answered, pointing at Hiccup. The boy sighed, and dropped his shoulders.

After a long silence, Hiccup took his notebook again to continue his drawing of Toothless. That must have given Fishlegs an idea of a topic.

'Hiccup, did you notice the way Astrid looked at you when you said that thing about Night Furies?' he asked, nodding towards Astrid who sat next to Ruffnut and that other girl. Her face gave a bored expression.

'No, I was too busy realizing she actually TALKED to me,' Hiccup answered sarcastic while resting his head on his hand. 'She doesn't even notice me, why would she have a way of looking at me then?'

Fishlegs couldn't really answer that, so he just shut up. Since Hiccup was doing something, he grabbed a comic book out of his bag, and started reading.

The rest of the day went by slowly. This time he didn't miss the bus, but he didn't get a seat. The moment he got out, he looked at his window to see if Toothless hadn't put on a fire. It all looked good, so he went inside, greeted his mother, and walked up the stairs.

Snotlout was right, Hiccup was pathetic, not fit to become a chief. Probably everyone in the village thought that, but only the fourteen year old bully dared to tell him.

With Toothless on his lap, snoring lightly, Hiccup finished up his homework, and then prepared for bed. When he looked at Toothless lying next to him, he felt that strange aching in his chest. He knew Toothless would have to leave the house before the month ended, and that would be in only two weeks. Where would he go?

'You're going to be fine without me, aren't you?' he asked. Toothless' big green eyes stared at him, and kept him in that hypnotic gaze again. Luckily, Toothless was so tired he fell asleep not long after that, and Hiccup followed him.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter three_

The end of the month arrived too quickly. Hiccup had taken Toothless to the cove every evening for an hour, so the dragon could get used to it, but now it was already October, and Toothless was the size of a Doberman.

The moments the two spent in the cove, Toothless practiced flying, though his wings weren't fully grown, so he couldn't get very high. If he would stay here next week, he certainly couldn't fly out.

Hiccup helped Toothless catching fish. It took the dragon quite some time since he still had no teeth in his mouth, and the fish always slipped away from under his gums. Toothless was always disappointed when that happened, and then often refused to catch another fish for two minutes. It was only after he was reminded how good fish tasted that he tried one more time.

This evening, Hiccup lay in bed, having Toothless beside him for one last time. The dragon seemed to feel it coming; he felt Hiccups grief, his nervousness. So while Hiccup was reading one of the old Hiccup's journals, Toothless put his head on Hiccup's leg, and stared at him. Hiccup continued reading, trying to memorize how his ancestor trained his Night Fury. While reading all the journals, Hiccup got surprised by the similarities of names and statuses. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was the son of the chief, Stoick the Vast. The boy was the apprentice of a guy called Gobber the Belch. His friends were literally called "Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Astrid". A girl named "Heather" was also mentioned once or twice, but so far she didn't play a big role in the memoires. It was a relief to Hiccup that there was no Camicazi in the story, because then it would have been just scary.

"Once you're big enough, I'm going to build you a saddle. So we can fly together like he did,' Hiccup said to his dragon, holding the book in the air. Toothless yawned, and licked his nose. Then he closed his eyes, and let out a big sigh. Hiccups petted him, knowing this was the last time Toothless would sleep next to him. He already was too big. Two weeks ago it was easy to hide him if his mother would come in. Now it was impossible; he would become a large ball under the sheets, and that would only make his mother suspicious.

Though it was a Thursday, Hiccup's school was closed due to a delayed holiday. "Weapons Down" had been in the summer, and strangely, Berk public school decided to celebrate it today. His parents were out of the house all day – his father doing his chief-stuff and his mother left the island to search for ingredients for a special meal. An ingredient only available on Bog-Burglar, where Camicazi lived.

Wrinkley was at home, helping Hiccup pack up for Toothless. Not much was necessary actually; his favorite toy – some old chewing plaything from a dog Hiccup once had when he was little – and some fish to stock so he didn't have to hunt too much. Toothless had to sneak out from the window, and Hiccup, Wrinkley and the dragon ran into the woods – which was situated right behind the house. From the school, the cove was only twenty minutes walking, but from his house it was easily fifty minutes. On top of all, it started to rain – a usual day on Berk. Hiccup watched Toothless jump from branch to branch, chasing a squirrel, and laughed when Toothless tried to dig a hole in the mud so that his face got all under the goo. It was less fun when Toothless shook himself dry, and all the mud went splashing in the air, some of it on Hiccup's favorite brown hoodie.

'Toothless!' he shouted, but he couldn't help but laugh. Toothless was like a little dog walking out. He enjoyed everything he saw, but stayed in Hiccup's sight.

'So I've read the first journal,' Hiccup said to his grandfather. The man turned his head towards him, and listened. 'A lot of it matches our current situation, it creeps me out a little bit.'

Wrinkley frowned. 'What do you mean, matches?'

'Well, identical names, though for us they are nicknames, and for them their real ones. His dragon was a Night Fury called Toothless – but I could have read his name in the cove and unknowingly thought of that at the time.'

He also explained about the other villagers who played a big part in his life. Though, nothing was mentioned about a grandfather, or Camicazi as mentioned before. There was also nothing about the old Snotlout being his cousin.

'Could be coincidence,' Wrinkley said a little too fast, as if he knew more than he told. Hiccup didn't feel like asking about it, since it was already creeping him out.

The moment they arrived in the cove, Hiccup saw Toothless diving inside, spreading his wings and enjoying the wind in his face. The dragon always did this when they arrived here, and it was a joy to watch it. After landing, Toothless kept his eye on the two humans, who were doing their best to go down without falling. For old Wrinkley it was difficult, since his back hurt, and his reflexes were very low. Hiccup scratched his arms on a branch once or twice, and almost fell over in the mud. But when they finally got down, Toothless jumped on his friend, and wanted to sit on his shoulder. In the first week that was possible, but now it only caused Hiccup to lose his balance and drop on the ground with Toothless still standing on his back, pushing his nose in Hiccups hair playfully. Wrinkley giggled as he lowered himself on a rock and rubbed his feet and back. His old green eyes looked tired.

'So what are you going to do now?' Wrinkley asked. Hiccups face went up, and he smiled.

'What we always do, grandfather,' he said. Hiccup gently pushed Toothless off him, and once he stood up, he walked to the pond. There he watched the fish, looking if Toothless was going to catch one all by himself.

The Night Fury didn't. He only stood there, big eyes staring into the water. It was as if he was guarding it. Hiccup walked away to see if Toothless would follow. The dragon remained on his spot, didn't move. When Hiccup sat down next to his grandfather, he took out the first journal. He was at the last pages, but got too tired to finish it yesterday. After a minute, he heard his grandfather snoring. Well, if the man was sleeping, it wouldn't be rude to read.

But he never got to reading. He was too fixated on Toothless, who looked like a statue. Why didn't he move? Or was that a hunting move?

It definitely was a hunting move. Toothless sat still for another minute before he jerked into the water without any notice. One moment he was there, the other his face grabbed in the pond. When he got out, he had two fish in his mouth. Then he turned his head in Hiccups direction, and showed off his game.

'Good job Toothless!' Hiccup shouted without waking his grandfather. The dragon ate the fish, and ran towards him. Hiccup thought of what he read in the book. How his ancestor gained trust of his dragon. Therefore, the boy grabbed a branch, and started drawing on the ground. The raining had stopped, and the mud had dried up a little, so the figures were clear to see. Just like Hiccup thought, Toothless observed with much attention, followed the branch with his eyes. It was interesting to him. So Toothless, just like the dragon in the book, stood up, and grabbed a bigger branch. Then he mimicked Hiccup and planted the branch in the ground to draw a figure. He ran anywhere, and a line formed behind him. It was great to see how much fun Toothless had.

When Toothless was ready, he threw the branch away, and looked proudly at his drawing.

The dragon in the book was bigger than Toothless now was, so the branch he carried was not very large. Hiccup stood up, and followed the lines. When he accidentally stepped on one of the lines, Toothless growled to him for the first time, dropping his ears back and showing his gums. Hiccup jerked back his foot, and felt his heart beat a little faster. When he wanted to step on it again, Toothless growled even before the foot touched the ground, and at the last point, Hiccup moved it a little further away. He missed the line, and Toothless' eyes got friendly and big again.

'What happened?' Wrinkley asked in a sleepy voice. He stretched his body, and cracked his neck while rubbing his back.

'Toothless is protective over his art,' Hiccup explained, pointing at the figure drawn in the sand. Wrinkley frowned, pressing his lips to each other.

'Whatever you call art, son,' Wrinkley said. 'I think we better get going, if you want to get home before your father does.'

Hiccup nodded, walked out of Toothless' drawing, and packed the book back in his bag. Toothless knew what was coming, and ran to Hiccup, pressing his face against the boy's leg.

'I know, bud,' Hiccup said while petting the dragon on his forehead. 'But you have to stay here, I'll try to come back today, if not I'll see you tomorrow.' He kneeled, and gave Toothless a big hug. The longer he held his dragon between his arms, the more tears came up in his eyes. He pulled away, looked one last time at Toothless, then walked up the rocks again, followed by his grandfather.

The journey home was quiet. Hiccup felt his heart breaking when he thought of Toothless' sad face. He kicked some rocks away, and looked up in the sky. One day he will fly there with Toothless.

When he finally got back home, Hiccup went into his room to do his homework. The other teens in his class would hang out, but no one bothered to ask Hiccup or Fishlegs to tag along. Now since Fishlegs had visit from his grandmother, Hiccup couldn't seek company from him. And if Hiccup was honest, he preferred to be alone at the moment.

After finishing math, Hiccup focused on the last pages of that book. He didn't know what he saw, some sort of designs for a tail. Was his dragon wounded? Maybe he accidentally skipped over that part.

After a while, Hiccup opened his laptop, searching a little bit on the internet. He didn't really expect to see something interesting, until he got a message from Fishlegs, who was chatting with him.

_Hiccup, I don't know if you heard, but apparently the murderous-tribe has officially declared war with the Meatheads and the Hairy Hooligans. Has your father said anything about us now starting Viking-training? You know, now that we are in war?_

Hiccup's eyes got small while he was reading this. Strange though, despite that the war was now officially, Hiccup did not feel any different. He always expected an attack from the Murderous', and now nothing really has changed. Besides; two tribes against one. And Hiccup was sure that, if the Bog-Burglars were to choose a side, they would choose theirs.

_I will ask my father,_ Hiccup replied. _I don't know, I thought Viking-training was part of our curriculum this year, so I think we were supposed to get this even without the war. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything out._

The conversation ended after a thank-message from Fishlegs. Hiccup logged out, and checked out the Viking-training-program. At first there's them having to build a boat together, and later sail with it. Hiccup was quite handy if it came to constructing things, so that would not be too hard. Another one was self-defense, followed by martial arts. That would be a lot harder, since Hiccup always just avoided fights if he could. And as for martial arts, he knew he would only end up losing against his opponent.

The things such as survival and climbing were spread over the weekends. Hiccup knew he wouldn't survive one hour.

He simply came to the conclusion that it would be best if he didn't participate to the program. He would only be a distraction for the others, and he surely would bring shame to his father. Err, well, more shame than he already brought to him.

His father arrived one hour after him. Hiccup heard the door close. Now his father probably went to the living room, and would sit in front of the TV with something to eat, while trying to relax from the busy day. It was six in the evening; Toothless had been alone in the cove for three hours now. What would he do? Would he try to escape? And if he succeeded, would he come and fly all the way back to the house? Was that possible?

Hiccup kept his eyes on the window, ready to see a black dragon appear any minute now.

'Son, can you come down for a moment?' Stoick shouted from under the stairs. Hiccup's eyes widened and his hands formed fists. Unsure of what was coming, Hiccup walked downstairs without making any noise. How did his father look? Angry? Sad? Frightened?

Hiccup was surprised to see he was rather normal, if not concerned, holding a axe in his hands. When he noticed Hiccup was present, Stoick gestured him to come. With hesitation, Hiccup took the steps closer to his father. Before the man could speak, Hiccup took the word.

'I need to talk to you, dad,' he said, pressing his hands to each other.

'I need to speak with you too, son,' Stoick answered. Then there was a short silence, which Hiccup took as a sign to start speaking.

'I decided I don't want to go to the training,' he said, exactly at the same time his father said a sentence Hiccup didn't hear. They both turned their heads to each other, frowning.

'What?' came out in-sync. Stoick then shook his head, gesturing Hiccup with his hand.

'You go first,' he said, with his voice that sounded tired.

'No, no, _you_ go first,' Hiccup stuttered, scratching his hair and looking at the ground.

'The moment is there, Viking training. You'll start tomorrow,' Stoick explained. Hiccup rolled his eyes, still half standing on the stairs, he took the last steps down.

'Oh man, I should have gone first, 'cause I was thinking, you know,' Hiccup tried to find his words. 'We have a surplus of War-Fighting-Vikings, but do we have enough…' Hiccup thought '…Bread-Making-Vikings? Or Small-Home-Repair-Vikings?'

As always, Stoick didn't listen. 'You'll need this,' he said, as he dropped the axe in Hiccup's arm. He hardly was strong enough to carry it. The boy almost fell over.

'I-I don't want to fight in the war, dad,' Hiccup said, balancing the weapon in his hands.

'Come-on, yes you do!' Stoick said, not knowing whether to smile or to be angry. Of course he was rephrasing to the time where Hiccup, as a little child, was always saying to everybody how he was going to fight as a real Viking if it would ever come to a war, but he mostly said that to annoy Cam, since the girl wanted to be the best at everything.

'Rephrase dad, I _can't _fight in the war, I won't accomplish anything good,' Hiccup tried again. Stoick didn't give it.

'But you _will _accomplish things,' he started to sound annoyed.

'No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't,' Hiccup tried one last time. Stoick turned back to his son.

'It's time, son,' he said. Now Hiccup was getting desperate.

'Can you not hear me?' he begged, but it was pointless.

'This is serious son,' the chief said. 'When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you, which means you walk like us,' as he said that, he grabbed Hiccup by the arms to make him stand straight. 'You talk like us, you think like us. No more of…' Stoick pointed his hands in Hiccups direction '_this_.'

'But you just gestured to _all of me_?' Hiccup complained. Why did he have to live in a tribe where even the youngest child was eager to fight battles?

'Deal?' Stoick asked.

'This conversation is feeling very one-sided,' Hiccup mumbled, frustrated that his father never listened.

'Deal?!' Now the chief really got on his nerves. It was pointless to go against it now.

Hiccup let out a big sigh, and turned his head. 'Deal,' he repeated while staring at the ground. Viking-training. Now he would have less time with Toothless than he had planned.

'Now I'll join the ship for the search of Mogadon's defences. I'll be back… probably,' Stoick said, throwing the bag over his shoulder and walking back to the door.

'And I'll be here… maybe,' Hiccup answered long after his father was out of sight.


End file.
